Matthews, a Rowayton-based marketing consultant, had put the challenge to stylist Emily Ray, co-owner of Stamford's Salon du Soleil, to transform his locks from a traditional, medium-length full cut, to one of the shorter styles now in fashion.

"I've had a temptation to do this since New Year's," he said. "I wanted to get something that was short, professional and hip."

They could have opted for an all-around buzz cut with subtle changes in length. Instead, Ray planned an undercut, which left the top longer and the sides and back at about a quarter-inch. It offered flexibility when it came to styling.

"Half punk, half conservative," Matthews said, laughing.

"This will give him a cleaner, more updated look," Ray said, as she deftly handled the razor around the back and the sides. She used scissors to trim the top. She said the attention to texturing would bring it all together.

This trend toward short, clean styles that combine a barber-shop aesthetic with salon detailing are producing clean, spare looks that incorporate a bit of pop on runways, magazine covers, red carpets and a sidewalk near you. Ray said she increasingly has seen the look make its way into Fairfield County.

"This is just what happens in the cycle of hair," she said, adding that for a time, fuller, wavier and longer looks had been favored by her male clients. "I think people now just want to cut it off. But, this keeps you away from a very generic look."

Ray said women are not shying away from the sheers either.

As with most fashion trends, statistics are hard to come by, but anecdotally and visually, short, buzzy cuts are in. Perhaps the most striking of these has been Miley Cyrus, who shed her long brown locks in August for a two-toned blonde short crop that brought on the punk. Anne Hathaway also drew attention and spawned mimics when she got a pixie cut for her role in "Les

Miserables." Charlize Theron sported a super short 'do at the Oscars. And British actor Nicholas Hoult's already short locks featured in "Jack the Giant Slayer" had become a buzz cut by the time the movie was released in February.

On the day Matthews, who is in his mid-40s, was getting his hair cut, Dorota Czeremuga, 35, of Stamford went from short to shorter. Working off a style reminiscent of Theron's style in the 2005 movie "Aeon Flux," she had adopted a Cyrus-like cut by the time stylist and Salon du Soleil co-owner Agnieszka Tomczak was finished.

Czeremuga said she has had short hair for as long as she can remember, cycling through pixie cuts, bobs, crops and others, though this had been the shortest. She gets a cut about every two months because she likes the ease of short hair.

"You just shampoo and go," she said. If she wants to jazz it up, she will use gel and some hairspray.

Tomczak said one can make such a cut more or less dramatic with products. As a stylist, she said she loves these short cuts and the people willing to try them.

"I love it when I can transform someone," she said. "I love the drastic cuts. They sit in the chair looking one way and leave looking a completely different way."

Trends are spurred by many things, but for Hisao Oe, owner of the Greenwich-based salon Hopscotch, he said he suspects it has been a combination of celebrity influence, as well as a reaction to the lengthy styles that have dominated the past few seasons.

"Short hair always tends to standout, particularly if it is well-cut and looks good on that person," he said.

Cyrus' headline-grabbing haircut led the way for people like singers Rhianna and Justin Bieber, whose hairdos have attracted attention in the past, to draw additional public interest, he said.

"Justin Bieber is very short on the side and longer on the top," he said. "It's retro in a way."

Over the years, Oe said popular culture icons have spurred fashion trends. For instance, Bieber's new look may be reminiscent of hairstyles from the 1950s, such as the quiff (think James Dean, Tintin and Morrissey), but he's put his own modern twist on it.

"Today, it's edgier," he said.

SoNo Academy, a salon and styling school in South Norwalk, also is seeing short styles, but more along the lines of Rhianna's new look when it comes to female clients.

"One part of their head is shaved, short and tight, while the other side remains long, flowing and curly," said academy owner Thea Tsiranides. "We are seeing a lot of that. It gives this kind of peek-a-boo effect of edginess."

She said these short looks made appearances on runways last year and they are trickling down to the mainstream.

For years, academy director Lee Doyle of Norwalk has donned a more extreme version of the undercut where there is no blending between the lengths. The top is considerably longer.

"Mine is more edgy, a bit more blunt," he said. "This is more of a salon cut than a barber cut."

He said such a style requires commitment. "You have to be ready to be dressed and prepared for it daily."

More than three weeks after his cut, Matthews said it has shaped up nicely and is easy to live with. He's also looking forward to a cooler top for spring and summer.

"There are edgier looks than this, but this is clean and fun," he said. "Traditionally, my hair is heavy and wavy and that can grow tiresome. My wave takes over for any longer style. Doing this frees me from that. It gives me a break."